Ant Keeping ForumThe study of Ants and their habitat, conservation, study and enjoyment. The friendliest ant keeping forum on the web.2018-09-18T18:45:26http://antkeepingforum.com/feed.php?f=392018-09-18T18:45:262018-09-18T18:45:26http://antkeepingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3837&p=25147#p25147Soon i will have in ny hands a few messor queens.I have read that they are polygynus so i was thinking to introduce them. i have read is that you introduce them when they are still around 10 workers in the colonies. Is that Wright? Any advice?

]]>2018-04-16T22:39:412018-04-16T22:39:41http://antkeepingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3799&p=25036#p25036Solenopsis invicta which may be of interest to you without me just dumping tonnes of info, only used 3 sources and(Most relevant = The new queen lays 10 to 15 eggs that hatch in 7 to 10 days. - I'm assuming become larvae. For full development "Eggs take around 1 - 2 months to become workers")

"Most nests produce both male and female reproductives." - It is also noted that usually males occur just before females and the males will take to flight before the females.

Mating occurs in the air

"Multiple queens will share a cell, but often only one survives to establish a colony."

Both monogyne and polygyne colonies have been documented in the RIFA’s native habitat (South & Central America) but the dominant colony formis monogyne. - This and the above bullet point should lead you to expect one queen to be killed by the colony. May want to consider separating queens with some workers each before this occurs as queens may end up fatally hurting one another however as shown by several keepers on youtube, they have a well established colony with multiple queens so it's just something you may wish to take into consideration.

The new queen lays 10 to 15 eggs that hatch in 7 to 10 days.

Defining characteristics for identifying S. invicta:

"Each antenna has ten segments (starting at the head). The last two segments will be larger than the others, forming a two-segmented club. The pedicel (the skinny “waist” connecting the front of the body to the gaster) has two segments. Finally, the tip of the gaster has a sharp stinger that is easily visible with the aid of a microscope."

Section about stings

RIFA are extremely aggressive and respond rapidly to any disturbance of the nest or a food resource. Fire ants can bite their victims, but they are most famous for their painful sting. A RIFA stings by grasping its victim with its mandibles (jaws) and repeatedly jabs the stinger into the skin while pivoting around in a tiny circle. The result is a small, acutely painful wound that develops into a pustule (small, firm blister-like sore) in 24 to 48 hours. The pustules can become sites of secondary infection or even a permanent scar. A few people are acutely sensitive to fire ant venom and may have intense reactions to stings such as nausea, shock, chest pains, and, on rare cases, even death.

- Would expect the extreme reactions to be referring to allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis when stating death.

"A fire ant queen can live for 7 years and produce as many as 1,000 eggs per day."

Colonies can grow to 400,000

Queens after founding a nuptial chamber lay approximately 25 eggs (This source claims 10 more eggs than other source. Note that this source also includes mention of cannibalising eggs which may account for discrepancy.)

Eggs take around 1 - 2 months to become workers

Once hatched the queen will feed nantics with protein reserves and cannibalised eggs

Social structure consists of: (Nothing out of the ordinary)

Workers - Care for queen and brood, build nest site, defence and foraging. These roles are determined by size and age

----Nurse ants - Younger workers that tend to queen and brood

----Defence and nest construction - Consists of mature ants

----Foragers - Role taken by the oldest workers

Worker ants live between 60 and 90 days. In summer heat this can be shortened to 35 days.

One of the best tools used to detect and monitor fire ants and other ant species is the use of slices of hot dogs as a food lure.

Ultimately S. invicta are pretty much up for eating anything and everything but apparently they're especially fans of hot dogs.

______________________________________________________________________________________________You will be able to find quite a lot of papers on Solenopsis invicta as lots of research is pumped into them due to the billions of £ lost globally each year as they're a very destructive and widespread / successful alien species.

From their reputation I gather what makes S. invicta such a difficult species unlike many others is that they're extremely dominant and will demand to be controlled otherwise will just over run.

From what I see with AntsCanada the form of prevention he uses for his mature red fire ant colony (Not sure if his is geminata or invicta) is alcohol and talc / baby powder. I'm not sure if this is favourable to PTFE with this sort of species but may be something to look into. Escape prevention is heavily emphasised with this colony. Have a secure lid, secure edges etc... as their extremely active, very small and very persistent plus they are a notorious, extremely damaging to local environments and I believe I'm correct in stating - the most expensive cost of clean up of ant species in the world.

I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with them and I imagine ultimately they're similar to Pheidole pallidula just with a little more "oomph" when they get going :). Occultusants has a youtube channel (Link here) and regularly covers species like S. invicta. Antkeepingkit UK has videos on species like S. invicta and S. geminata which will give you a good idea on what they're like such as this video about S. geminata.

Sorry that my knowledge on the species is limited and I'm certain there are others on the forums which know far more than I do about this species or species of its ilk, I'm more of a Camponotus person myself and nicely kept with my A. octospinosus :p. Also just remember this is a highly invasive species and may be capable of successfully inhabiting urban areas of the U.K. so you must (Obviously this relates to all species but S. invicta would be one of the highlighted ants in a long list) ensure that they cannot and do not escape.

All the best & very sorry if I ended up just spewing up a load of crap but definitely be excited. Should be a great experience and seems you'll be keeping one of natures truly great industrial species.

]]>2018-04-16T21:15:182018-04-16T21:15:18http://antkeepingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3799&p=25034#p25034Take all this with a grain of salt, like I said though I honestly can't answer that question accurately as I have never kept S. invicta. I'll have a look and see what information I can find on them online for you in the mean time. Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know or could guess yourself.

]]>2018-04-16T18:50:342018-04-16T18:50:34http://antkeepingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3799&p=25033#p25033Statistics: Posted by Jim — Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:50 pm
]]>2018-04-16T18:30:082018-04-16T18:30:08http://antkeepingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3799&p=25032#p25032Keep them in the dark by wrapping tinfoil around the test tube and keep them at the appropriate temperature. If they're happy and content you won't need to check on them much at all and they'll get to founding a colony. Once they have workers put them in a container, line the container with PTFE (I wouldn't use alcohol & Talc for early colonies as even though it's excellent I swear it also kills ants when the talc is powdered on the floor) and supply sugar water, occasional pin heads of honey and water. Once they're at a good amount then I'd move them into a a formicarium.

Moving ants into a formicarium at too small a colony size just encourages the ants to use the remaining space as a tip and won't manage the waste and that encourages fungal growth and just a pretty nasty view in general.

That being said I and I'm sure most others are naughty and move ants into a formicarium at too early a stage and typically it's fine. But you'll definitely want a decent few workers in my opinion.

Also you may find trying to do it too early that the queens just won't budge out of the test tube at all (Even when the test tube is full they may be reluctant).

]]>2017-03-11T15:43:192017-03-11T15:43:19http://antkeepingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2799&p=20703#p20703. To save space as well now trying to try compact a lot of info into a table like on ANTSTORE in order to lower the count and make it more digestible.